La critica militante di Donato Valli

EnThe essay deals with Valli's critical militancy and, in particular, with the books Aria di Casa, which gathers «occasional» production made up of reviews, presentations and introductions dedicated to Salento and southern culture in general.ItIl saggio affronta la militanza critica di Donato Valli e, in particolare, l'opera Aria di Casa, che raccoglie la produzione «occasionale» fatta di recensioni, presentazioni e introduzioni dedicate alla cultura salentina e meridionale in genere

Ethnography and Historiography in Fulvia Miani Perotti’s Travel Writings

Attraverso i suoi scritti odeporici la scrittrice pugliese Fulvia Miani Perotti (1844 - 1931) ri-afferma l’identità regionale e con essa le tradizioni del genius loci secondo l’azione di propaganda di quelli che sono gli assi portanti della ricerca demologica in Italia negli anni post-unitari, ovvero il rapporto tra identità regionale e identità nazionale. Il saggio prende in analisi, in particolare, il suo volume di racconti, Profili e paesaggi, che contiene tre lunghi racconti di viaggio (Su pe’ Colli, Riva Adriatica, Nella Magna Grecia), in cui la scrittrice descrive la società rurale pugliese. L’analisi dei testi dimostra che Miani Perotti privilegia gli aspetti storiografici ed etnografici a scapito di una trama che diventa un mero pretesto per narrare usi e costumi, passato e presente, di un territorio familiare e, pertanto, non straniante.In her odeporic writings, the Apulian writer Miani Perotti (1844 – 1931) reaffirms the regional identity and the traditions of the genius loci in line with the propaganda based on the backbone of demological research in Italy in the post-unification years; that is, the relationship between regional and national identity. The essay analyses a collection of short stories, Profili e paesaggi, which contains three long travel stories (Su pe’ Colli, Riva Adriatica, Nella Magna Grecia) that describe the rural society of Apulia. The analysis shows that Miani Perotti favours historiographical and ethnographic aspects at the expense of the plot, which is therefore used as a mere pretext to write about the past and present uses and customs of a familiar, therefore not alienated, land

Aboard Iris along the Dalmatian Coasts with Giuseppe Modrich

Nel presente saggio il volume La Dalmazia romana- veneta-moderna. Note e ricordi di viaggio (1892) dello scrittore di origine zaratina Giuseppe Modrich e analizzato nel suo rapporto con la letteratura pregressa, cogliendo gli eventuali nessi con gli scritti di Fortis relativi agli aspetti antropologici e storico-culturali. La Dalmazia è descritta da Modrich con dovizia di particolari relativi alle abitudini di vita degli abitanti delle varie province ma anche al patrimonio artistico-architettonico, proposto dall\u27autore quale testimonianza delle diverse dominazioni che nei secoli si sono succedute. Un capitolo è dedicato ai Morlacchi e alla loro cultura e, più in generale, all\u27entroterra dalmata, poco frequentato dai viaggiatori e, dunque, poco noto ai più. Un secondo ambito di analisi riguarda le strutture e le strategie narrative utilizzate dall\u27autore, che vanno dall\u27uso spinto del dialogismo, che si alterna a lunghe e dettagliatissime descrizioni, che rendono quasi tangibile al lettore gli scenari, siano essi paesaggi, monumenti o abitudini di vita, con cui lo scrittore intende promuovere la sua patria.The paper analyzes the volume Roman-Venetian- modern Dalmatia: Travel Notes and Memories (1892) written by Giuseppe Modrich from Zadar and compares it to previous literature, establishing links with Fortis\u27s writings by focusing on anthropological, historical, and cultural aspects. Modrich\u27s descriptions of Dalmatia and its many provinces abound with details concerning the population\u27s habitual behaviors in daily life, as well as its artistic and architectural heritage, which the author recognizes as evidence of various foreign powers that had dominated the region over the centuries. A chapter is dedicated to the Morlachs and their culture and, more generally, to the Dalmatian hinterland, not very popular with travelers and, therefore, little known to most people. The second part of the analysis focuses on the narrative structures and strategies employed by the author, shifting between the overuse of dialogism and the long and detailed descriptions that make the imagery almost tangible to the reader, be they landscapes, monuments, or habitual behaviors; strategies with which the author intends to promote his homeland

Ethnography and Historiography in Fulvia Miani Perotti’s Travel Writings

Attraverso i suoi scritti odeporici la scrittrice pugliese Fulvia Miani Perotti (1844 - 1931) ri-afferma l’identità regionale e con essa le tradizioni del genius loci secondo l’azione di propaganda di quelli che sono gli assi portanti della ricerca demologica in Italia negli anni post-unitari, ovvero il rapporto tra identità regionale e identità nazionale. Il saggio prende in analisi, in particolare, il suo volume di racconti, Profili e paesaggi, che contiene tre lunghi racconti di viaggio (Su pe’ Colli, Riva Adriatica, Nella Magna Grecia), in cui la scrittrice descrive la società rurale pugliese. L’analisi dei testi dimostra che Miani Perotti privilegia gli aspetti storiografici ed etnografici a scapito di una trama che diventa un mero pretesto per narrare usi e costumi, passato e presente, di un territorio familiare e, pertanto, non straniante.In her odeporic writings, the Apulian writer Miani Perotti (1844 – 1931) reaffirms the regional identity and the traditions of the genius loci in line with the propaganda based on the backbone of demological research in Italy in the post-unification years; that is, the relationship between regional and national identity. The essay analyses a collection of short stories, Profili e paesaggi, which contains three long travel stories (Su pe’ Colli, Riva Adriatica, Nella Magna Grecia) that describe the rural society of Apulia. The analysis shows that Miani Perotti favours historiographical and ethnographic aspects at the expense of the plot, which is therefore used as a mere pretext to write about the past and present uses and customs of a familiar, therefore not alienated, land

Protein microarray analysis of aberrant signaling pathways in Acute Myeloid Leukemia to predict the patients responsiveness to PI3K/Akt/mTOR inhibitors

Mapping of deregulated kinases and protein signalling networks within tumors can provide a means to stratify patients with shared biological characteristics to the most optimal treatment, and identify drug targets. In particular, the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathways are frequently activated in blast cells from patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), a neoplastic disorder characterized by the accumulation of genetically altered myelogenous cells displaying deregulated intracellular signalling pathways and aggressive clinical behavior with poor prognosis. Using Reverse Phase Protein Microarrays (RPMA), we have analyzed the phosphorylated epitopes of signal pathway proteins of 81 peripheral blood and bone marrow specimens with newly diagnosed AML. Patients are diagnosed according to blast content, FAB classification and cytogenetic analysis. Samples are enriched for leukemic cells by performing Ficoll separation to yield a mononuclear fraction with >60% blast cells. The objective of the study was to predict the sensitivity of each patient to PI3K/Akt/mTor inhibitors, to avoid unnecessary and toxic ineffective treatment of non-responsive patients. To this goal, fresh blast cells were grown for 16 h untreated or treated with phase I or phase II mTor or Akt inhibitors either alone or in combination. Remarkably, by unsupervised hierarchical clustering a strong phosphorylation/activity of most of the sampled members of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway was observed in 70% of samples from AML patients. This confirms that this pathway might indeed represent a pharmacological target in many patients. Moreover, treatment with the above inhibitors had no effect on the phosphorylation of other selected targets, demonstrating the specificity of the above results (more than one different inhibitor was used to avoid off-target effects). More importantly, by the use of the above drugs, we have been able to discriminate within the “high pAkt” population a PI3K/Akt/mTOR inhibitor-responsive group of patients and a PI3K/Akt/mTOR inhibitor non-responsive group. In addition, our data indicate that the Akt pathway is hyper-activated in M4, M5 patients, compared to M0, M2 patients, and that a strong activation of most upstream and downstream Akt effectors correlates with an over-expression of the c-kit receptor (CD117). We believe these data are important because they, have the potential to define a profile for the personalized administration of targeted drugs

Impact of social determinants on antiretroviral therapy access and outcomes entering the era of universal treatment for people living with HIV in Italy

Background: Social determinants are known to be a driving force of health inequalities, even in high income countries. Aim of our study was to determine if these factors can limit antiretroviral therapy (ART) access, outcome and retention in care of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Italy. Methods: All ART naïve HIV+ patients (pts) of Italian nationality enrolled in the ICONA Cohort from 2002 to 2016 were included. The association of socio-demographic characteristics (age, sex, risk factor for HIV infection, educational level, occupational status and residency area) with time to: ART initiation (from the first positive anti-HIV test), ART regimen discontinuation, and first HIV-RNA < 50 cp/mL, were evaluated by Cox regression analysis, Kaplan Meier method and log-rank test. Results: A total of 8023 HIV+ pts (82% males, median age at first pos anti-HIV test 36 years, IQR: 29-44) were included: 6214 (77.5%) started ART during the study period. Women, people who inject drugs (PWID) and residents in Southern Italy presented the lowest levels of education and the highest rate of unemployment compared to other groups. Females, pts aged > 50 yrs., unemployed vs employed, and people with lower educational levels presented the lowest CD4 count at ART initiation compared to other groups. The overall median time to ART initiation was 0.6 years (yrs) (IQR 0.1-3.7), with a significant decrease over time [2002-2006 = 3.3 yrs. (0.2-9.4); 2007-2011 = 1.0 yrs. (0.1-3.9); 2012-2016 = 0.2 yrs. (0.1-2.1), p < 0.001]. By multivariate analysis, females (p < 0.01) and PWID (p < 0.001), presented a longer time to ART initiation, while older people (p < 0.001), people with higher educational levels (p < 0.001), unemployed (p = 0.02) and students (p < 0.001) were more likely to initiate ART. Moreover, PWID, unemployed vs stable employed, and pts. with lower educational levels showed a lower 1-year probability of achieving HIV-RNA suppression, while females, older patients, men who have sex with men (MSM), unemployed had higher 1-year risk of first-line ART discontinuation. Conclusions: Despite median time to ART start decreased from 2002 to 2016, socio-demographic factors still contribute to disparities in ART initiation, outcome and durability

Familial hypercholesterolaemia in children and adolescents from 48 countries: a cross-sectional study

Background: Approximately 450 000 children are born with familial hypercholesterolaemia worldwide every year, yet only 2·1% of adults with familial hypercholesterolaemia were diagnosed before age 18 years via current diagnostic approaches, which are derived from observations in adults. We aimed to characterise children and adolescents with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (HeFH) and understand current approaches to the identification and management of familial hypercholesterolaemia to inform future public health strategies. Methods: For this cross-sectional study, we assessed children and adolescents younger than 18 years with a clinical or genetic diagnosis of HeFH at the time of entry into the Familial Hypercholesterolaemia Studies Collaboration (FHSC) registry between Oct 1, 2015, and Jan 31, 2021. Data in the registry were collected from 55 regional or national registries in 48 countries. Diagnoses relying on self-reported history of familial hypercholesterolaemia and suspected secondary hypercholesterolaemia were excluded from the registry; people with untreated LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) of at least 13·0 mmol/L were excluded from this study. Data were assessed overall and by WHO region, World Bank country income status, age, diagnostic criteria, and index-case status. The main outcome of this study was to assess current identification and management of children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia. Findings: Of 63 093 individuals in the FHSC registry, 11 848 (18·8%) were children or adolescents younger than 18 years with HeFH and were included in this study; 5756 (50·2%) of 11 476 included individuals were female and 5720 (49·8%) were male. Sex data were missing for 372 (3·1%) of 11 848 individuals. Median age at registry entry was 9·6 years (IQR 5·8-13·2). 10 099 (89·9%) of 11 235 included individuals had a final genetically confirmed diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolaemia and 1136 (10·1%) had a clinical diagnosis. Genetically confirmed diagnosis data or clinical diagnosis data were missing for 613 (5·2%) of 11 848 individuals. Genetic diagnosis was more common in children and adolescents from high-income countries (9427 [92·4%] of 10 202) than in children and adolescents from non-high-income countries (199 [48·0%] of 415). 3414 (31·6%) of 10 804 children or adolescents were index cases. Familial-hypercholesterolaemia-related physical signs, cardiovascular risk factors, and cardiovascular disease were uncommon, but were more common in non-high-income countries. 7557 (72·4%) of 10 428 included children or adolescents were not taking lipid-lowering medication (LLM) and had a median LDL-C of 5·00 mmol/L (IQR 4·05-6·08). Compared with genetic diagnosis, the use of unadapted clinical criteria intended for use in adults and reliant on more extreme phenotypes could result in 50-75% of children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia not being identified. Interpretation: Clinical characteristics observed in adults with familial hypercholesterolaemia are uncommon in children and adolescents with familial hypercholesterolaemia, hence detection in this age group relies on measurement of LDL-C and genetic confirmation. Where genetic testing is unavailable, increased availability and use of LDL-C measurements in the first few years of life could help reduce the current gap between prevalence and detection, enabling increased use of combination LLM to reach recommended LDL-C targets early in life